Carol's Car Wash is Best

Monday, June 17, 2013

Editor’s Note: You choose the Best of the Best. The Daily Tribune’s annual Reader’s Choice contest filled our offices with opinions galore on your favorite everything in and around Macomb County. In a month-long time frame, readers voiced shared their responses to The Daily Tribune’s questionnaire ballot, posted online and published several times in previous issues. Several categories were covered, from food and drink to services, your best places to buy great stuff and more.

Below is one of the many success stories chosen from the final list of winners. For the full listing of winners in each category click on SPECIAL SECTIONS at www.dailytribune.com Special Sections.

By JOHN HETZLERFor Daily Tribune

Carol’s Car Wash and Van Full Service believes in one tenet: the customer is always right.

“If you treat the customers right, they’re going to keep coming,” said Joseph Mays, the manager at the car wash in Hazel Park.

The philosophy has helped the business earn recognition. Carol’s Car Wash and Van Full Service was named the best car wash in The Daily Tribune’s Best of the Best reader survey.

“We do full service inside and out,” said Mike Charlier, the husband of owner Carol Charlier. “We also do detailing. We do the best we can.”

Faith also is a big factor, Charlier believes.

“We’re Christians,” said Mike, who helped build a school and church in Ghana during missionary trips in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “We think people come because God blessed us.”

Mike and Carol operated a couple of faith-based non-profit organizations, and they put their faith into practice at their business.

Carol, who is now retired, would often give jobs to the homeless and other people down on their luck.

The focus on others has helped the car wash’s reputation.

“I think a lot of it has to do with ownership,” Mays said. “They are a Christian-owned business, and they respect the customers.”

Mike Charlier also appreciates the work done by Mays, who started working at Carol’s when he was 16 years old.

Years later, and after he has earned a master’s degree in human resources from Central Michigan University, Mays makes things run smoothly.

“He watches over the place really well,” Charlier said.

As summer approaches, Mays said that there are several things people can do to get their vehicles looking the best.

No. 1, Mays said, is “to get a hand wipe to get rid of all the salt and dirt from the winter.” Secondly, a shampoo for the car’s interior is a must.

“You want to get rid of the salt on the carpet,” Mays said. “It will stain your carpet.”

Another option is to get the ultra complete car wash, which includes a conveyor wax.

“That’s a nice way to baby your car,” Mays said.

In addition, Mays said there are more economical choices to keep your vehicle clean, from an express wax, an outside special (for tires and rims), and an express wash.

“We believe you can have quantity and quality together,” said Mays, who said it takes between 3-5 minutes for the average car to be cleaned at Carol’s. “We try to treat every car like it’s our car.”

Mays said everything—the quality, the service and the attention to the customers—starts with ownership.

“They listen,” Mays said. “They preach that customers are the reason for our business. We really want to listen to our customers. They are not a number.

“They set the stage that everyone is treated right,” Mays said.

Carol’s Car Wash and Van Full Service is located at 533 E 9 Mile Road in Hazel Park.